♪ [ continues ] [ gasping ] complete bay area news coverage starts right now. this is ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00. [ yelling ] punches are thrown on the courthouse steps between family members am broiled in a controversial murder case. good evening. i'm ken wayne. >> i'm gasia mikaelian. a routine court hearing erupted into a fight between two families in san jose today. one man's family wants justice for a dead father and the other is calling for leniency for the man who shot him. >> reporter: the hearing lasted about a minute while outside was the real drama where supporters from both

sides got into a fight. family and friends of 26-year- old ricardo hernandez streamed out of the santa clara county courthouse this afternoon after showing up to support the second degree murder suspect. they were taunted by the family of 36-year-old christopher soriano, the man killed december 31st in san jose in what police describe was a citizens arrest gone wrong. >> i'm a widow with five kids now. >> hey, hey! [ yelling ] >> reporter: soriano's family told us they're upset hernandez is portrayed as a hero seen here in a previous court appearance. police say hernandez was called to the summer breeze apartment complex by his maintenance supervisor after soriano was spotted on the property. hernandez and his supervisor confronted him and officers say that's when hernandez shot the unarmed soriano with an illegally bought gun. >> he killed a man, a father of

five children, took my son away from me. how can they say he's a hero? >> reporter: an online petition asking for leniency for hernandez received more than 500 signatures and family members say he's also getting several letters of support. they wonder what hernandez was supposed to do in a city with a dwindling police department and rising crime, but soriano's family wants stiff punishment. >> everybody in our city feels that they are not secure and what is going to happen to them? that's why it speaks to them directly. it could be their son on either side. >> give him 25 years or life. he's going to get worse because he's going to rot in hell for this. he's going to rot in hell. >> reporter: the district attorney's office released a statement saying the current facts show at the time of the shooting mr. hernandez had no legal excuse ordowns for using deadly force on an un-- or justification for using deadly force on an unarmed man. the richmond man who gunned

down his former girl friend and her friend at the san rafael bridge toll plaza was sentenced to death today. 49-year-old nathan burris received the sentence today. two months ago burris was convicted on murder charges for the august, 2009 murders of 51- year-old deborah ross and 58- year-old ersie everette. investigators say burris believed the pair was romantically involved. an employee of a san rafael retirement home has pleaded guilty to stealing jewelry from residents. the 21-year-old housekeeper admitted to six misdemeanor charges stealing from at least 12 residents of the drake terrace retirement home. she was sentenced to 180 days in jail, put on probation for five years and ordered to pay restitution to the victims. an embattled santa clara county prosecutor accused of professional misconduct was found culpable for one out of three counts against him. a state bar court judge said troy benson should not be stripped of his law license.

the decision is considered a victory for bensen who was accused of concealing evidence in a molestation case six years ago. oakland mayor jean quan today wrote an open letter to the city council in support of the police advisor bill bratton. quan said bratton would focus on improving the department's compstat system which tracks crime data and trends. bratton is one of the suspect's inventors which quan said makes him uniquely suited to help perfect it. quan addressed concerns over a possible stop and frisk program saying racial profiling will not be tolerated in the oakland police department, period. the san francisco 49ers are due to arrive in atlanta in a few hours as they get ready for game that could send them to the super bowl. earlier today at the santa clara training facility the team boarded buses headed to the international airport. there wasn't a public sendoff, but that did not stop this die hard fan who brought his video

camera and tamed the athletes through a tiny gap -- taped the athletes through a tiny gap in a fence. the championship game is luring some faithful 49er fans to atlanta but not all of them. ktvu's paul chambers is live at the airport with the challenges you might face as feign going to the game or just staying home. >> reporter: there are two direct flights from sfo to atlanta and are both sold out. if you're throwing a theme bash, this seems to be the place to go. >> it's a family/49ers party. >> as soon as we get a shipment we're all gone. >> reporter: a big difference from last year when the 49ers were also in the championship game. >> this year people have been shot by the 9er bug because

people are coming. in. >> reporter: with all the hype the store is limiting the 49ers items. they do have balloons and napkins. however other supplies are a different story. if you can forego the logo, the store is well stocked with items sporting the 49er colors and did say other party cities may have what you're looking for, good news for those waiting till the last minute to shop for their 49ers party. >> been working all week, so my only chance is today and tomorrow to get prepared. >> reporter: tomorrow there are four direct flights delta has to atlanta, but they have 10 seats altogether. if you want to go to atlanta last minute, there are other airlines that have nondirect flights. i'm paul chambers, ktvu channel 2 news. >> our coverage begins at 9:30 sunday morning with ktvu's championship playbook, fox sport coverage following with kickoff set for a little bit after noon. stay with us after the game for

point after. big waves are headed to the bay area this weekend. the national weather service issued a high surf advisory this weekend at beaches in the point pries, national seashore and golden gate national recreation area. swells up to 10 feet high will create dangerous condition like possible sneaker waves and small rip currents. those conditions are a sign the big waves needed for the maverick surf contest are coming in. ktvu's patty lee live from pacifica now. >> reporter: this afternoon the mavericks safety team inspected the boat and 15 jet skis they'll need to keep the surfers safe sunday. it may be hard to believe now, but less than 24 hours this flat expanse will become a 25- foot wall of waves. racing for a big wave -- bracing for a big av of customers this weekend -- wave

of customers this weekend, the sandwich shop is stocking up on more rolls. down the road at the harbor organizers of the mavericks surf contest await the arrival of the surfers and the waves. >> the energy in the swell is going to be ferocious and we are going to see these guys put to the test. >> reporter: because a monster wave injured spectators and took down contest tents in 2010, law enforcement changed the rules. no speculators are allowed to the beachfront. they must watch on big screens set up at the main viewing area at the oceana holt or online. >> you don't even vert -- hotel or online. >> you don't even have to leave to watch it. >> they're surfing jaws today on maui the same swell that's coming here. >> we're preparing for the big crowds, but you never know. >> reporter: the sheriff's sergeant said all hands will be on deck this weekend.

an estimated 30,000 people could be in town to watch the maverick surf contest, but the 49ers game makes the size of sunday's crowd hard to predict. >> it is that unknown factor. they could be at a 49er party or they could be here. >> reporter: because of the new rules spectators may want to plan ahead. parking this year will be restricted and tickets will be needed to attend the viewing party near the beach. patty lee, ktvu channel 2 news. looking at patty's hive shot, those waves were -- live shot, those waves were tiny out there, but things will change rapidly heading into the weekend. right now half moon bay buoy reporting 3 feet, but there is a major swell in the pacific. closer to home we have wave heights of about 5 feet. look what happens well

offshore, waves approaching 19 to 20 feet and the big waves approaching the bay area especially into sunday. high surf advisories begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow until 4:00 sunday afternoon with that northwest swell on the way. you can see those waves on the increase for saturday and sunday. just be extra careful. a lot of people are heading to the coast this weekend. the weather will be nice. the beaches will be very dangerous. as far as mavericks, the energy is focused to pillar point and the waves are amplified easily topping 30 feet heading into sunday. you want a mixture of the perfect conditions, light winds out of the northwest 8 miles per hour, dropping tide throughout the morning, a low tide by 12:28 in the afternoon and nice continues with the temperatures on track to reach the low to mid-60s. we also have a nice weekend forecast as well, more on that am coeing up.

news chopper 2 -- coming up. news chopper 2 will be flying over the surfing contest sunday morning. click on our live stream and watch it live on your mobile device. an animal rights group is suing a santa cruz biotech company for alleged animal rights abuses. ohio state's stop exploitation now has filed suit. the company operates a research facility with thousands of goats and rabbits. the u.s. did not of acquisition culture has filed a -- department of agriculture has filed a complaint against the company. celebrity chef and bay area native guy serrie showed off the awesome pretzel cart today in santa rosa and is donating it along with cash to help remodel the group's training kitchen. >> we would like to present you

with a $5,000 check towards the culinary program. [ applause ] >> he heads the cooking with kids foundation which aims to educate young people on cooking while teaching them self- reliance and self-esteem. three minutes. >> getting tough on graffiti, the international effort. >> we also talk about how a target once considered taboo is no longer off limits. >> there's always something he'll do that's surprising. >> right after the break he's been called clueless. find out how long the unlucky burglar who robbed steve jobs house will spent in prison.

the trial began this week in the case of a deadly office

shooting in silicon valley. jing hua wu is accused of shooting three executives at 10 startup siport in santa clara in 2008. if convicted wu will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. wu's attorneys claim their client suffered a psychotic breakdown due to a post- traumatic stress disorder stemming from childhood. the prosecution said wu was motivated by revenge after being fired. the men found guilty of burglarizing steve job's home in 2011 has been sentenced to seven years in state prison. 35-year-old kareem mcfarland of alameda took at least two apple computers, ipad, jewelry and other personal items from the waverly street home. mcfarland admitting to burglarizing the residence and several other residential burglaries. mcfarland told police he didn't know the home belonged to steve jobs and targeted it because the house was under construction and dark inside.

police got together with artists in a fight against graffiti saying the majority of the vandalism was not done by gang members. >> reporter: tagging is a quality of life issue, but officials are telling us now that one strategy used to discourage graffiti like this is increasingly under attack. >> it's really important when we do mural art in neighborhoods we are culturally responsive to the community. >> reporter: the art museum showed visitors how it's using murals to deter graffiti vandalism, part of a three day seminar aimed at ending the visual blight that costs cities so much to clean up. >> it's about $20 million a year for our department. for public works it's about $3.5 million a year. >> reporter: san francisco police say only a small percentage of tagging is gang related and that there are more than 250 graffiti-related arrests each year. >> right after the giants won the world series this year we

had an explosion of graffiti in late october, early november. >> reporter: san francisco's department of public works says it's seeing a slow decline in graffiti. others say community murals once left alone by taggers are now increasingly under attack. >> consistently throughout all the time i've been here i have been cleaning off graffiti. >> reporter: yano rivera restores murals cleaning away damage done by the sun, time and vandals and says a goal of zero graffiti is unrealistic for any city. >> it's just graffiti. it happens. what can you do? >> reporter: san francisco has its own date base to catalog graffiti and determine who may have done it. police say the best way to discourage graffiti is to paint it immediately or paint over it. david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. a federal review has found california is not ready to retake control of its prison mental health system. a court appointed monitor said california inmates are committing suicide at a rate of

one of 11 days and too many are without mental health treatment. this is a significant setback for governor jerry brown who has been pushing for california to take back full control of the prison system. today was the last day on the job for san jose police chief chris moore. a retirement party is getting underway at this hour at the fairmont hotel in san jose. moore spent more than 27 years in the department. moore says he made his decision to retire early when city leaders decided against putting a half cent sales tax measure on the ballot that would have helped fund the police department. health officials say the flu season is picking up here in california. the state upgraded the flu to widespread today saying the virus activity exceeds what we should expect this time of year. health officials announced another person under the age of 65 has died from the flu. >> we're watching very closely every week. we are hoping that this

increase will be just an early start of the season and things will decrease, but we just never know, could be it's just the beginning of a more serious season. we're watching closely. >> health officials advise people to watch their hands frequently and cover their cough. the flu virus can live on surfaces including door knobs and keyboards several hours. for more information where to get a flu shot, head to www.ktvu.com and click the hot topics tab. tomorrow will be this season's winter's spare the air alert. here's a live picture of downtown san jose. pollution levels will remain dangerous tomorrow again. this means woodburning is strictly forbidden. ktvu meteorologist mark tamayo joins us now. >> not too much change. we basically have a layer of stable air above the bay area trapping all the pollutants. it's going to stick around into early next week. as far as temperatures from this afternoon, another effect of that is warming temperatures. that happened today.

lots of 60s toward san francisco and oakland, san jose 64 and fairfield 63 degrees. on live stormtracker 2 higher clouds to our north and patchy fog hugging parts of the cape mendocino shoreline but not much in the way of significant cloud cover. the storm track is way north of the bay area. current temperatures are cooling off, right now in the mid-40s in fairfield, downtown san francisco 58 degrees and san jose reporting 57, mostly clear skies. forecast headlines, more clear conditions, patchy morning fog, mild weather pattern remaining in place. the extended, more cloud cover and a slight chance of a few showers. overnight lows upper 20s to right around 30 degrees and once again patchy fog reforming in some of the inland valleys. san francisco is 40, san jose 38 degrees. here's that cold start saturday morning at 7:00 into the

afternoon hours, colors begin to move around reflecting the warm-up, 50s in the blues, greens linking up with the 60s and a few neighborhoods approaching the 70-degree mark in the afternoon hours, maybe a few high clouds approaching the northern parts of the region. forecast highs saturday, not much of a departure from today's condition, santa rosa 65 degrees, hayward 63, san francisco 64. a 70 in santa cruz, san jose 65. our weather pattern not changing too much the next few days, basically identical forecast saturday and sunday into monday, warmest motionses around 65, 66 degrees -- locations around 65, 66 degrees. next week changes by tuesday. we'll thicken up the cloud cover, so increasing clouds tuesday, a slight chance of a shower into wednesday. beyond wednesday we might track more shower chances as well, but the weekend, the weather

beautiful. a lot of people might be making plans by the coast and be careful because of that high surf advisory. >> those are monster waves. don't fool around with that stuff. >> these are long period swells meaning there could be a break between the way it sets. it could be calm and then a significant wave. coming up on bay area news at 7:00 on tv36 seems everyone is talking about lance armstrong and manti te'o. so should athletes be held to a higher standard when it comes to telling the truth? join us at 7:00 on tv 36. parting words from the san francisco 49ers, in three minutes the final words from coach harbaugh and his players when they took off for atlanta. >> closed captioning for the ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 brought to you by the la-z-boy furniture overstock sell-off. hurry. in sale ends soon.

the stage is being built, the big screens are going up. this is a look at the preparations underway today for the inaugural ball. there are actually two being held at the washington convention center, one for the armed forces and one for other dignitaries. performers include alicia keys, katy perry and members from the cast of glee. ken pritchett and tori campbell

are headed to the nation's capital. their live reports will begin sunday morning and continue throughout inauguration day monday. ktvu viewers have been sharing their 49er faithful pictures. tanya chavez posted these pictures of her dog decked out in a red and gold jersey on our facebook wall. send us your fan pictures. e-mail us at photos@ktvu.com or post them to our twitter or facebook page. the 9ers hid the road in kind of a good moody imagine. >> they've been here -- mood i imagine. >> they've been here before, but they have some work to do. they must worry about getting to falcon quarterback matt ryan and try to man handle atlanta's three big receivers, but on the sidelines the defense can turn into cap fans. the 49ers defense practiced each week with colin kaepernick. last week he ran for an nfl quarterback record 189 yards

and two touchdowns, something that caught everybody's attention. >> the way he controls the offense not surprising. we see it all the time. we do get to watch it once we settle down and do what we do on defense and watch it on jumbotron. >> that's more than fast, man. >> there's always something he do that's surprising. his talent is elite. the sky is the limit for him. i'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more and more stuff he can do that's going to surprise everybody. >> of course, saturday's coverage starts with it our own ktvu nfc championship pregame show at 9:30 p.m., kickoff 12:05 p.m. capped off with our live after show right here on ktvu fox 2. oakland athletics came to terms on one year deals with jerry blevins and brandon moss who belted 21 homers in 81 games. it was a big day for buster posey, the future hall of fame catcher in new york to meet

yogi berra. posey brought the world trophy series to yogi's museum. buster agreed to a one year $8 million contract. last year buster made under $700,000. also today giants sign outfielder hunter pence to a one year deal for 113 million bucks. alameda's own james hahn still coleader of the pga humana challenge in laquinta. the big waves are headed our way. tonight on the 10:00 news we head back out to half moon bay where safety preparations are well underway for sunday's big maverick surfing contest. >> it's going to be fun. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. thanks for joining us. we'll see you at 10:00. well, well, well.

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